Jack met Jesus for the first time through his school principal. Years later, he's never forgotten that experience and now wants to share Jesus with others.
“I didn’t grow up as a Christian. I never wanted anything to do with God. I was an atheist in fact. But since meeting Jesus, I can’t help but want to share Jesus with this town.”
“Kempsey Adventist School is like its own community. We saw the opportunity for evangelism in this school. So we planted a church at the school and we call it The Well.”
“What really works for The Well is that we’re using the existing relationships we have with the community. We started off with a Friday night service. The kids actually bring their parents. When the kids are enthusiastic and when they want to come, the parents can’t deny them because it’s a service that offers great values.”
“Daniel is one of the fathers who comes to The Well and he’s a regular attendee. His little boy was making some noise and crying. He quickly took the boy outside. Our school evangelist John Boston chased him out and said, Hey, is everything all right?”
“Daniel’s response was, I didn’t want to make any noise.”
“But John told Daniel, Kids are welcome. Just come in.”
“Daniel was so impressed by that and said, I only wish that all churches were like this.”
“Since Friday night services are children-focused, we thought that there’s a need to encourage the parents and invite them to another level in their spiritual journey. So we started The Well Connected on Sabbath mornings. It’s a very simple format. We get together, have a chat for 30 minutes or so, and then we encourage them to follow through the Discovery Bible Reading.”
“Discovery Bible Reading, I feel, is a great approach to reading the Bible and it doesn’t matter what walk of life you’re from. I feel that because you’re reading the word together for the first time and then summarizing it, discussing it, talking about it, I think someone who’s a long time Christian can contribute to the conversation. Someone who’s completely new, inquiring, looking into Christianity can also participate and contribute to the conversation as well.”
“I’ve really seen lots of growth in other people but I’ve also experienced it for myself.”
“For me, the first time I met Jesus was actually through my school principal. After being suspended many times, kicked out of schools in Kempsey, my school principal called me into his office. I was expecting to be in front of a panel of the discipline committee. But he explained to me that he had pleaded with the committee to let me stay at this school.”
“He said, Jack, do you know what grace is?”
“I had no idea.”
“He said to me, Jack, it’s something you don’t deserve but I’m giving it to you anyway.”
“It was at that moment in the eyes of my teary principal that I met Jesus for the very first time. I’ve never forgotten that I met Jesus through someone else.”
“That’s what The Well is all about. We come together, we eat together, we read God’s Word together, we love one another. I believe with all my heart, just as I met Jesus through the eyes of my principal, that people’s lives will be transformed because they are experiencing Jesus too.”
